According to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Elias Sports Bureau, the official statistician for the NFL, has changed the first quarter fumble by Pittsburgh Steelers running back Isaac Redman to a Ben Roethlisberger fumble for no gain.
The play in question happened with 8:22 left in the first quarter. On third and one from the Tennessee Titans 6 yard-line, the Steelers attempted a fullback dive to Redman with time winding down on the play clock. Roethlisberger’s handoff was never fully controlled by Redman and that is most likely why Roethlisberger is now being charged with the fumble instead.
Dan Fouts, who broadcasted the game Sunday for CBS Sports, suggested during a replay of the turnover that Roethlisberger was too high with his ball placement on the handoff. I have included an animated gif of the play below and you can judge for yourself.
Regardless of the stat correction, Redman needs to hold onto that football. To make matters worse on that play, the Steelers had the wrong personnel in the game at the time as Felix Jones was supposed to be the running back on the play instead of tight end David Johnson.
If you own and started Redman in your fantasy football league this past weekend, you can now rejoice in the fact that the Steelers running back finished the game with 3.5 points if your league scores negative points for fumbles. On the flip side, Roethlisberger will now be docked one or two points depending on your scoring system.
